Hotel for the Holidays

Not to be confused with the classic 1954 version White Christmas (feel free to read my 12 November 2018 IMDb review of White Christmas) where the loyal military personnel chipped in to save their old Colonel's fledging hotel, but in the same vein, there is an old hotel the Hotel Fontaine which this film exploits as a "make or break" deal when a rich prince from a foreign kingdom tries to woo the beautiful hotel manager Georgia (played by Madelaine Petsch whose previous starring role is in the Riverdale TV series 2017-2023) to manage a brand new hotel far away.

The Hotel Fontaine's loyal chef Luke (played by Mena Massoud whose previous starring role was in the 2019 Disney film Aladdin) ) and good friend of Georgia is a fine chef in his own right and is smitten by Georgia.

There are many nice employees who love working at the Hotel Fontaine who are unaware that their hotel manager may be leaving them soon to follow her own dreams, but the heart wants what the heart wants and Christmas time always seems to bring out the best in romantic relationships and such is the case at the Hotel Fontaine.

This is what I would consider a " Christmas light" not over dramatized made for TV film which is pleasant to watch and with a happy ending (of course). I would normally give a film of this style (Christmas light) a 5 out of 10 IMDb rating, but with two classy actors in the lead roles such as Madelaine Petsch and Mena Massoud I upped the ante an assessed a 6 out of 10 IMDb rating.

This movie isn't Oscar worthy, but it isn't as bad as some of these reviews would lead you to believe. I've definitely seen worse on Hallmark. Like several others, this caught my eye because of Mena Massoud, who is as charming as ever. He's not in it as much as I would have hoped, but I liked the leading lady as well. It's a simple film with the typical lack of communication trope, but I enjoyed the sweet characters and lack of drama. Some of the set pieces were pretty rough - the fake snow was obvious and I was a bit confused by the roof dinner scene, since there was "snow", but no one seemed cold? However, it was exactly the type of movie I was looking for while wrapping presents. Low stakes, holiday themed, and a happy ending all around.

Kinda dull. I feel like there's a whole backstory we're missing with the characters, like they'd just drop these mini backstories and that would be it. Also you could tell the actress that played Pandora was lip-syncing to Christmas song and not well. The love interest was in love with the main character but there was never any love shown from her more like a friendship.

It felt like all love interests were just dropped in and not because they were actually in love. The Santa was appalling and would make constant sexual remarks to the women which was just vulgar. Probably not a show I'd want my kids to watch.

This movie is a family film. No violence, sex, or curse words. Children 5 to 10 might like it. Kids under 5 probably won't be interested. But it won't hurt them if playing in the background.

It's extremely silly and unrealistic. Adults won't like it. Even teenagers will roll their eyes at it's simple unrealistic premise.

• The whole movie is based on unrealistic silly misunderstandings.

• All the adults in the film are very sophisticated socially and occupationally. But they have absolutely no social skills when it comes to dating or relationships. It's as if they're all virgins who have never had a date in their lives.

• And as professionally sophisticated as the main character Georgia is. And as much as she depends on her cellphone, you would think she would have some portable chargers in her purse.

• I've never heard of a hotel whose doors only open and close with an app.

• New York City is portrayed as a small town where strangers continually bump into each other on the street.

But children 5 to 10 won't care about that. And hopefully as they grow up, they'll realize the difference between silly family fiction, and reality.

In the beginning it wasn't too bad. The characters seemed interesting, and I love the actress that plays the older staff member.

However the last 30 minutes of the movie made absolutely NO sense to me! The entire time Mena Massud's character was pining after the female lead, all while she pays him no mind because she is trying to sell the hotel, then out of nowhere she has feelings for him??

I got the impression that the housekeeper secretly admired the other chef, at least that's the way it came across, so when he's on one knee proposing, it made absolutely NO sense!

The only characters that has some sort of buildup to their coupling was the older couple and the guy that lost his dog.

I went from wanting to keep this one saved in my PVR to wanting it to be over so I could delete it! Just so silly!